Hermetic closure for receptacles.



UNITED STATES PATENT. ornron. N

l WILLIAM A. LORENZ, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO BEECH-NUT PACKING COMPANY, OF CANAJOHARIE, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK, AND ONE-FOURTH TO WILLIAM H. HONISS, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

KERINCETIC CLOSURE FOR RECEPTACLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J' une 2, 1908.

y `Application led August 18, 1906. Serial No. 331,131.

l To all 'whom 'it may concern:

' Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hermetic Closures for Receptacles, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention relates. to improvements in closures for the hermetic 'sealing of ltumblers, and other plain rimmed receptacles. Most of the jars and similar glass receptacles heretofore employed as vacuum packages lfor food products are provided with a groove or shoulder for receiving the gasket employed for making the air-tight closure joint. When sealed with the Wedging type of closure now commonly employed, a tin cap having a flaring flange is 'pressed down over the outside of the gasket, after the exhausting operation, thereby compressing the gasket downwardly and at an angle against its shoulder or groove upon the receptacle.

It is obviously desirable, to employ for this purpose tumblers or other plain-rimmed receptacles which can be used in the household after being emptied of their original contents,

for which uses the aforesaid jars are unfitted because of their gasket receiving grooves and shoulders. It is moreover advantageous in some respects-to seat the gasket in the cap or closure, instead of' seating it upon the jar, since this facilitates keeping the rim of the jar entirely free and smooth and clean up to the moment of applying the closure, thereby making it easier to see and to remove from' the rim any of the material which may be spilled thereon in filling. By thus seating the gasket in the cap instead of on the jar, the gasket itself may also be more easily kept clean, all portions of the joint may be ins ected, and its cleanlinessA assured before placing the closure in position.

The present improved closure consi'-ts of a cap having a flexible flaring flange in which a gasket is seated, the flange being provided with an annular shoulder between the .top and bottomof the flange, for engaging with the gasket to push the latter downwardly over the rim of the tumbler during the sealing operation.

The form of my improved closure illustrated in the accompanying drawing is suitable for an outside edge sea ,min which the gasket is wedged at an angle against the outer edge of the tumbler rim. The same principles may, however, be applied to -an inside edge seal, in which the gasket is wedged at an angle against the inner edge of the tumbler rim, merely by reversing the flare of the flange, making it flared or coned in'wardly'instead of outwardly, in which case, however,

the gasket would be seated on the outer side of the flange .below the shoulder thereof.

Figure 1 is a sectional side view of one side of my improved closure in position for exhausting the air prior to the sealin tion. Fig. 2 isa similar view of the same parts showing them in sealed position. Fig. 3 is a side view in smaller scale, of a sealed tumbler, with one side of its upper portion shown in section. Fig. 4 is a side view, also in section, showing the cap of Fig. 3 with its gasket seated therein before applying it to the tumbler. Fig. 5 is a sectional side view in enlarged scale, showing the closure in its `sealed position, and illustrating its adaptability to jars which are oval, or otherwise out of circular contour.

The cap 21 is made of flexible material,

preferably sheet metal, and is provided with operaa comparatively deep flange of a ge 11erally flaring contour. The upper portlon 22 of the flange is or may be substantially cylindrical. The middle portion 23, separated from theportion 22 y the shoulder'25, is flared, while the lower or edge portion of the flange 24 is or may be a proximately cylindrical, or at least turne( inwardly from the general angle of the flaring portion 23, so as to conform approximately to the side wall of rim 26 of the tumbler 27. The gasket 80, which is orl` may be initially of cylindrical band-.like form, is seated on the inner side of the flaring flange', so that it is disposed ob,- liquely across the tumbler rim, with its up er edge againsty the shoulder 2 5.l is preferably made of a diameter larger than that of the flange, so as to be slightly compressed in placing it in its -seat, thereby tend,-

ing to retam its place by friction, due to its eort to ex and toward its original diameter. Or fthe gas et may be molded or otherwise made approximately to the contour shown in Fig. 1. These gaskets may be placed' in their capsat any time prior to the sealing o eration, so that` the operator in capping t e tumblers does not have to handle the gasket separately as in the instances above referred to wherein the gaskets are seated upon the jars, prior to applying the cap. In fact, withthis closure it is unnecessary for the operator to handle the gasket at all. Being thus inserted in and carried by the cap flange, the gasketsand the inner portions of thc closure maybe kept perfectly clean, and sterilized if desired, it being unnecessary to handle the gasket or any other interior portion of the closure, in placing it upon the filled tumbler.

In sealing tumblers or other plain rimmed receptacles with this closure, the latter is placed upon the tumbler as shown in Fig. 1, the lower portion 24 of the cap flange serving in conjunction with the intervenin portion of the gasketSO to centralize itsel with the tumbler, while the flaring ortion of the gasket resting upon the tumbler rim supports the closure lin a substantially level position during the air exhausting operation, at the close of which the cap is pushed down by a mechanical presser or by means of the readmitted air, to the position shown in Figs.l

2, 3 and 5, thereby sealing the tumbler against the readmission of air. As soon as the tumbler is thus sealed and is exposed to the air, the atmospheric pressure continues to force the tumbler and its closure together, thereby compressing the gasket inwardly at an angle against the outer edge of the tumbler rim, and thus forming what is known as an outside wedging closure.

In the commercial manufacture of 'tumblers and other glass receptacles it is difficult to preserve a truly circular contour of the top of the receptacle, so that many of the tumblers produced by the ordinary commercial methods and even by the best commercial methods are liable to be out of round. That is to say, they are oval, or flattened at one or more portions of their rims.

Fig. 5 illustrates the adaptability of the present closure to adjust itself to the variations represented by the difference in position between the full line representation 27 and the dot-and-dash line representation 2S of the side wall of a tumbler. This adaptability of the closure to suit these variations in the tumblers is due mainly to the depth of the cap above the shoulder 25, whichaffords greater amplitude of movement to that portion of the cap flange 81, which bears most directly against the edge of the tumbler rim, this amplitude of movement being illustrated by the difference between the full line and the dot-and-dash line representations of the cap flange.

The enlarged scale in which Fig. 5 is drawn also shows clearly the action of the shoulder 25, in preventing the gasket from being pushed up into the cap above that shoulder, and thereby compelling the gasket to be pushed downwardly over the cap rim.

It also illustrates clearly the action of the shoulder in turning or wrapping the gasket inwardly over the top edge of the tumbler, therebyadding to the security of the outer edge s eal the further security due to that wrappmg.

It is not essential that the upper zone 22 of the cap flange shall be more than approximately cylindrical. The vertical length of this zone, rather than its inclination is the chief factor in its usefulness. Where, however, the other portions of the flange are properly proportioned to the tumbler, I consider that the cylinder form better enables the closure to conform to the ordinary distortions and variations of the tumblers.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination with a tumbler, of a we ging closure, comprising a gasket, a ca having a flexible flaring flange provided with an internal annular shoulder integral with the flange between the top and bottom of the flange for engaging with the gasket to push the gasket downward with the cap during the sealing operation.

2. The combination with a tumbler, of a Wedging closure comprising a' gasket disposed obliquely across the tumbler rim, a cap having a flexible flaring flange for wedging the gasket against the tumbler rim, provided with an internal annular shoulder integral with the flange and disposed between the top and bottom of the flange to prevent the gasket from being pushed above the ysaid shoulder.

3. The combination with a tumbler, of a wedging closure, comprising agasket, a cap having a flexible flange the upper ortion of which is substantially cylindrica and the lower portion of which is flaring, the flange being provided with an integral annular shoulder between said cylindrical and flaring portions to prevent the gasket from being pushed above the said shoulder.

4. The combination with a tumbler, of a wedging closure comprising a gasket disosed obliquely across the tumbler rim, a cap raving a flexible flange, the u per portion of which is substantially cylinrliical, and the lower portion of which is flaring to receive the gasket, the flange being provided with an integral annular shoulder between the Said' cylindrical and flaring portions for engaging with the gasket to push it down with the cap. 5. A closure for tum blers and plain rimmed lreceptacles, comprising a cap provided with a flexible flange, having its upper portion substantially cylindrical, and having its lower portion flared downwardly and outwardly, the flange being also provided with a 'substantially .horizontal annular shoulder lying approximately between the said flaring and cylindrical portions, and a gasket seated in the flaring portion below the said shoulder.

6. Aclosure for tumblersand plain rimmed the flange, with its upper edge underlying rece tacles, comprising a cap provided with a the said shoulder. lexilhle flange, having its upper portion sub- In testimony whereof, I have signed my Stantially cylindrical, and having its lower name to this specification in the presence of 5 portion lared downwardly and outwardly, ltwo subscribing witnesses this 23rd day of l5 the flange being also provided with a sub. July, 1906. stantially horizontal annularshoulder lying WILLIAM A.' LORENZ. approximately between the said larin and Witnesses: cy indrical portions, and a flaring and- NELLIE PHOENIX,

10 shaped gasket seated in the flaring portion of W. H. HONIss. 

